Books for Learning Fractions(continued)

Below is a continuation of our list of the best books for learning fractions:

7. Fraction Fun by David Adler & Nancy Tobin

(Grade 2-4) This
hands-on book is divided into two parts. The first section is
"pizza math" and presents fraction scenarios in which a pizza
is divided, compared, and then devoured. The second part focuses on the fractional value of a group of
coins.

Publisher's Weekly
called it a "delicious way to introduce fractions" and School Library Journal
said "the cartoonlike illustrations are colorful, whimsical, and
humorous; they also make concepts clear... parents and teachers
will
find limitless possibilities in this book." Agree! You could easily
build several fun, interactive fraction lessons around it!

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8. Working With Fractions written by David Adler; illustrated by Edward Miller

(Grade 3-5) This fun math book shows
how fractions are
everywhere, even at a child's birthday party! Party
games, food, and the actions of a
performing clown and a magician help present different
scenarios involving fractions. Kids love birthday parties, so you'll have their interest from the start.

For example, in a
spread depicting the
game musical chairs,
the text reads
"If you play
musical chairs at the party and 5 out of 7 children are sitting on
chairs, a fraction of the children are sitting. 5/7 of the children are
sitting on chairs."

Edward Miller's retro-style,
bright illustrations are so much fun and really help clarify
the math being presented! We LOVE Miller's books! Here is a sample page from inside the book. Our version of the page looks washed
out (sorry) but
the original in the book is quite vibrant. This sample page should give
you an idea of the math involved and illustration style.

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9. The Lion's Share by Matthew McElligott

(Kindergarten - 3rd grade) In
this beautifully illustrated picture book, lion has baked a cake for
his friends,
but each of his greedy friends takes half the cake when it's
passed to them, leaving Lion with only a crumb. Ant feels
bad and offers to bake another cake. The others hear this, and not
wanting to look bad, each offers to likewise bake cakes for the lion,
but they each try to outdo each other, promising twice the cakes
promised by the previous guest.

Soon, hundreds of cakes are
being
promised and the result is quite comical. This
is one of our favorites for teaching
fractions, plus it provide an early exposure to division and
multiplication
and also teaches about generosity verses selfishness.

In
a starred review, School Library Journal said "The captivating ink and watercolor
illustrations... reinforce
the mathematical theme with humor and detail. Many layouts effectively
present a graphic display of the simple fraction concepts. The results
are terrific." Below are sample
pages:

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10. Full House: An Invitation to Fractions by Dayle Ann Dodds; illustrated by Abby Carter

(Kindergarten - 3rd grade) At
the end of a busy day of arriving guests, the Strawberry Inn is full to
capacity, much to the delight of Miss Bloom, the hostess. Late that
night, Miss Bloom is surprised to discover that all of her guests are
downstairs, eating desert!

This is a great book for fraction
lessons, as readers can reason along with the inn-keeper and the guests as they divide up their tasty midnight treat. School Library Journal said, "Fresh, whimsical illustrations fairly
float off the pages... A fun choice for reinforcing the concept of
fractions."

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(3rd grade - 5th grade) Klondike
and Snow are two polar bears that were born at the Denver Zoo and will
need a lot of tender loving care from the zoo staff, as they have been
abandoned by their mother. This title tells the story of the first year
of their life and uses fractions to talk about their growth and about
how the staff fed and care for the two little bears.

(Grade 2-4) It's school
Field Day, so Kangaroo and friends divide into teams to play various
games--3 teams of 4 for relay races, 2 teams of 6 for tug of war, 4
teams of 3 for a canoe race. Teachers will appreciate that the fractions involved in each scenario
are shown in both the pictures
and
in numeral.

This is an "accessible
and fun" (School Library Journal)
title for children learning fractions, but it wouldn't be our top
pick in this category because there actually aren't very
many fraction problems incorporated into the story. Having said that,
we do like that this title includes a section at the end (as with all Math Start books) with suggestions for enhancing
student learning.

Here's
the first spread of the book, showing illustrator Kevin O'Malley's
illustration style. And
here is a page that shows how math is used to describe how teams
are divided up for different field day activities (in this case, a tug
of war). There isn't a lot of math in this story. In fact,
there are only three such pages in this book. It's still a
cute, fun story, but not very heavy on the math.

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